The Tarrasque Nations
The greatest military powers are the Tarrasque Nations, those countries that have under their control one of the great beasts. No army and no Hero can defeat a Tarrasque, even Mage-Knights fail against them. Time and again it has been proven that only another Tarrasque can defend against one. It is fortunate for the world that these creatures are incredibly difficult to create, so much so that in the two thousand years since the first one appeared, only six more have been crafted. Each Tarrasque is a unique creature, with its own shape and abilities. All of them do, however, share certain qualities. First is size, each Tarrasque rivals the oldest, mightiest dragons in size. Second is resilience, every Tarrasque can shrug off attacks with ease, even powerful magical weapons skitter off their hides without a scratch. Only the greatest of weapons, goddess-forged steel and High-Magic imbued, can so much as harm them, and even then the direst wounds heal within seconds of being made. Magic is also difficult to use against them, and spells sometimes rebound on their casters. Third is the fact that each of them can devastate armies and nations with shocking suddenness. All the Tarrasques have a wide range of attacks and defenses available to them, and are impossibly strong. Every worldwide treaty since the end of the First MageWar has included provisions regarding Tarrasques, though it wasn’t until the Treaty of Magar that specific injunctions against creating them and their use were agreed to. Now the use of Tarrasques in anything other than a planetary emergency or in immediate defense of the nation is considered a breach of the most inviolate of rules, and will instantly result in the rest of the world, all three spheres of power, coming down on the offending nation and obliterating it. Tarrasques, like Mage-Knights, are considered supremely loyal to the nation that created them, but to be sure the Magus Order maintains the enchantments that bind the great beasts, providing a non-partisan oversight to ensure that the power of the Tarrasques is never misused. Lincaeum has two Tarrasques, making them the most powerful military force in the world. They were the first to create a Tarrasque, and in fact have the second Tarrasque as well. The Lincaean Tarrasque is an ungainly walking beast, almost dinosaur-like with thick scales, slow movement and terrible claws. It is nonetheless the strongest of the Tarrasques, capable of uprooting mountains. The Tarsanican Tarrasque is a metal monster built of armored plates connected by living tissue. Elemental energies roil within this beast and it is capable of loosing terrible bursts of power on the area around it. Avvar In-The-Sky has a Tarrasque designed to rule the skies. It is a massive avian beast, with feathers of gleaming silver, sparking with electricity like some titanic Galadrin. It is incredibly fast and maneuverable in the air, and can use its enormous wings to create winds strong enough to knock down city walls. The Sulin Tarrasque was partially grown from a piece of the Crystal Palace, and shares some of the light-based powers of that incredible structure. It appears like a colossal hunting cat, similar to a tiger or a panther. It is the swiftest of the land-bound Tarrasques, and it is said it can leap to the peak of the highest mountain in a single bound. While all Tarrasques can swim, Irrix’Suul’s Tarrasque is the only one designed specifically for an aquatic environment. It is also the strangest in design, it has the body of a massive shark, with the waving, sucker-filled arms of an octopus and the trailing, clutching tentacles of a squid. There is no depth to which it cannot dive, and its speed in the water is nothing short of astounding. Nor is it limited to the ocean, as it can stride the land upon its tentacles as easily as any of the land-bound Tarrasques. The Tarrasque of El’Aerys is the only one of the beasts capable of changing its shape. It maintains its size and all the normal qualities of a Tarrasque regardless of the form it chooses. Most forms that the Tarrasque takes will have it appear to be tree-like, an enormous creature grown from wood and leaves, though different forms will have different attack and movement abilities. Ur’s Tarrasque appears much like the Lincaean Tarrasque, but was built for tunneling through the earth and undermining entire nations. It created the Demon pass in Uresh by cutting straight through the mountains, much like the Weapon created the Weapon’s Path back in the Time of Darkness. Currently it is tasked with patrolling the Exclusion Zone around Dianora’s Prison. Any who try to approach the prison without permission must face the Tarrasque, a prospect equivalent to suicide. Category:World Powers